Movie Reviews

A stylish but hollow adaptation

Steven Carrier | 10/29/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"My biggest problem with the Swedish adaptations of Stieg Larrson's Millennium trilogy is that for someone who hasn't read the three books, these movies must seem like an incomprehensible messes. The novels are so heavy with intricate plot and character development (it should be noted that almost ALL of the police procedural sub plot of the second novel is just erased from the story, Bublanski is on screen for about 1 minute) that it would be impossible to impart all of that to the screen. But with this original trilogy, especially the second film, plot and character are delivered so quickly and with mere explanation, that you have to already know whats going to happen, or you will be totally lost. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" is, technically, much slicker and better made; director Daniel Alfredson has a much better handle on pacing his picture than Niels Arden Oplev did with "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"- there really is no dull moment. Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist are both still decent in the roles. Rapace looses some of the steam from Part 1 while Nyqvist becomes less goofy, but both just don't bring the spark the characters had on the page to screen. Still, "The Girl Who Played with Fire" moves quickly, does a fairly okay job of condensing the material (that they actually decided to include) in the book and looks great visually, but one wishes that the screenplay would have taken a bit more time relaying the information in a more concise and clear manner.

Rating: 2.5/5.0"

Roots and Consequences

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 10/31/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE plays with our patience a bit. The first installment of this trilogy was far more linear and defined the characters more clearly, and perhaps that is what the director Daniel Alfredson was depending on as he made this part 2 - that the audience had all of the character drivers in mind and didn't need to clarify. But part two has two stories that run parallel and finally intersect: the journalists for Millenium magazine (including Mikael Blomkvist played by Michael Nyquist) are exploring sex trafficking when two of their star reporters are murdered. As they interview pimps and johns they hear the recurring name of 'Zala'. This leads to the suggestion that Lisbeth Salander (again the spooky and daring Noomi Repace) is the chief suspect. Lisbeth hides her identity and with reassurance that Mikael believes her innocence sets out to find the major criminal Zala. This opens some flashbacks to her past (the subject of which is suggested in the title) and with the help of Mikael she is able to find the Zala character - and make some discoveries about her childhood and relations that are startling indeed.

Rapace is strong once again and unafraid to do some rather tough scenes that further define her character. We know her a bit better, but she does seem to be a secondary story here. The pace of the film is such that much of the action is confusing (fire and gore and torture are fine but they need context to justify their presence), and the names of characters go flying past almost as often as they are killed. But for those who love violence and terror this film has both. Cinematography is by Peter Mokrosinski and the musical score (thunderously loud..) is by Jacob Groth. Now let's see how they adapt the last novel in the trilogy to bring this all together tightly. In Swedish with English subtitles. Grady Harp, October 10"